The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-01-19
POPULAR SCIENCE.

A new system of railway has been pat
ented, by which according to the pat.
entee) it is possible to travel at a speed
considerably more than double the pres
ent rate combined with perfect safety.
1t is thought that the many expert
ments which have been made abroad IN
photography will shortly result in the
formulating of valuable process for &C
curately copying colored pictures, such
as paintings, chromos, ETC.. in the true
relations of the respective tints.
It is reported that at Dresden the ex-
pertinent has been tried of placing
nickel hghtning-rod on building. The
advantages claimed for this metal arc
that, being non-corrodible, it will last
longer than iron, and will also keep
bright at the points, which later is very
essential to the efficiency of rods as con-
ductors of electricity.
The decline Of the silk industry in
India, for which various causes have been
assigned, has at length been proven by
Mr.. Wood Mason, an English naturalist,
to be due to destructive parasitic dis
ease of the worms. The affection seems
to be identical with 'pebrine," which
ravaged French silk-worm nurseries from
1S49 to 1866, and was eradicated from
Europe by the discoveries of Pasteur.
Among the rarer operations of what is
termed plastic, and by Sir James Paget
ssdecoratlve" surgery is that by which
new nose is formed by calling in the aid
of the tissue of other parts of the body.
This has been done by bringing flap of
skin cut from the forehead down over
the nasal bones. The flap retains its
connection with the deeper tissurcs at
point between the eyes by means OF
small pedicle, and thus its blood vessels
and nerves are not severed.
A remarkable case OF land subsldence
is reported from Lancashire, England.
The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway
crosses the River Calder on the Whalley
Viaduct. The banks of the river are ex-
ceeding treachcrous and has been but re-
Gently repaired. After the Scot h ex-
press had crossed November II it was
found that the whole structure had sunk
eighteen inches. Examination showed
that the viaduct was uninjured, so that
trains have been crossing regularly ever
since.
An Italian physician has advanced
new theory of cholera and method of
treatment. 1t is that the peculiar mi
crobes of the disease resident in the in
testinal canal and the blood are destroyed
by borax. He recommends the internal
administration of this compound in
doses of seventy-fve grains per day. His
treatment is based upon his observation
that during the fierce epidemic of 1864
IS the workmen in seven adjacent borax
factories were absolutely free from the
disease, while the disease carried off one
third of the remainder of the inhabitants
of the same villages. His argument is
therefore that borax acts as specific for
the disease.
In recent issue of the Vienna An
thropological Society, DR.. NJ. Halber-
landt discusses the origin, extent and
significance of tattooing. He does not
believe that it was at first meant merely
as ornament. He attributes it to re-
ligious significance, the figures described
ON the skin having some reference to the
totemic or ancestral god of the clan, and
serving as protection to the wearer: In
latter days, when this meaning had
faded, the figure became mere style of
personal decoration. DR.. Halberlandt
draws distinction between tattooing, in
which the figures are delineated by in
serting tine.pointed instrument repeat
edly into the skin, and what he cells,
from an Australian word. the manka, in
which pro .ess the lines are rat" he'd or
cut, and the ooloring matter rubbed in.
This distinction he maintains as import
ant as an theological criterion.